1. “It was a real thrill for (my brother and me) to have a picture with Erich Kunzel in the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1976. Although our picture didn't become as famous as the Erich Kunzel-Pete Rose poster, it was still exciting to be part of a photo with the great conductor.”

Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel | ZOOM |

        — George Hardewig, 34, Anderson Township

2. “He's much more Cincinnati than any city in the world. He's loyal to a fault about our city, our people and certainly about his orchestra. There is affection and a welcoming from Erich that I've never had with another orchestra.

        “I had an asthma attack at Riverbend that nobody knew about. My first inclination was to cancel. It was showtime. It was thanks to him that I got through it at all.”

        — Rosemary Clooney, singer, Beverly Hills, Calif.

3. “Maestro Kunzel has done more to cultivate a passion for the arts among young people than anyone I know.”

        — Laurie Wyant, director of School for Creative and Performing Arts High School Chorus

4. “Three words come to mind: too much fun. I was terrified. I had no business getting up in front of a crowd of people with a symphony orchestra. I just thought it was a hoot, and he was always the most fun guy to be around, filled with energy.”

IF YOU GO

What: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra “Celebrating Maestro Erich Kunzel's 35 Years on the Podium.” David Fischer and Mark Panuccio, tenors; Anthony Gallina, boy soprano; Esther Hyun Nam, soprano; the Community Gospel Choir, Clinton J. Bean, director; Members of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Drama Department, Richard E. Hess, director; Winton Woods High School Chorus, David Bell, director; Walnut Hills High School Chorus, Ben Basone, director; the SCPA High School and Children's Chorus, Laurie Wyant, director; the Children's Choir of Greater Cincinnati, Robyn Lana, director; May Festival Youth Chorus, James Bagwell, director; Men's Chorus, Patrick Coyle, director.     When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.     Where: Music Hall, Over-the-Rhine.     Tickets: $12-$49; $10 students. 381-3300 or at cincinnatisymphony.org.     The program: Leonard Bernstein, selections from Mass; Steven Flaherty, With Voices Raised; Steven Reineke, Rise of the Phoenix; Elgar, Enigma Variations; Randy Edelman, TransContinental: A Mad Musical Dash Across the USA.     Classical Conversations: 7 p.m., composer Steven Reineke.

        — Mike Reid, Grammy-winning songwriter and former Bengal, on his 1972 Pops debut

5. “Maestro Kunzel was honoring the various armed forces with the Armed Services Song. Having served in the Coast Guard during World War II, I stood when the orchestra played our anthem. I looked around and saw I was our only representative. Erich looked at me and smiled. It was a great moment.”

        — Raymond B. Wolf, 77, Miami Township

        6. “I remember one performance I watched on the ship's television system when I was serving on USS Saratoga in the Mediterranean Sea in 1992. We have most of the Erich Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops CDs and I hear him several times a day on classical station WCPE, broadcast out of Wake Forest, N.C., as well as on the Galaxy 5 satellite dish receivers and on the Internet at www.wcpe.org.”

        — Retired U.S. Naval Reserve Lt. Spencer Cole, 53, Knightdale, N.C.

        7. “It was Erich who gave me my start performing with symphony orchestras. We've had a lot of interesting things happen, like getting stuck at the race track in Cleveland, and almost missing a concert at Blossom because we were waiting for the concertmaster to make a comeback on the last race.

        “He's a very irreverent person, and so am I.”

        — Doc Severinsen, trumpeter, traveling with his band in Wisconsin

        8. “We were returning to the Florida coast from the Abaco Islands. The seas were heavy, we decided to duck into Grand Bahama Island for the night. Erich Kunzel had done the same thing. We enjoyed our dockside chats with this knowledgeable seaman and treasure the autographed music tape he gave us.” — Evelyn and Ray Wandstrat, Dillsboro, Ind.

9. “I went to Swan's Island (Maine) with him as a guest. He got me into a plastic boat that was about 4 feet long, and rowed out into the ocean, and started, without me knowing why we were there, pulling these lobsters out, and throwing them in the boat. They were jumpin' and rattlin' around that plastic boat. I thought, I'm gonna be bitten to death. Then we rowed back, and his wife Brunhilde had the hot water ready. I never ate so many lobsters in my life! It must have been 25 years ago. But I always think of what a crazy night it was.”

        — Dave Brubeck, jazz musician and composer

        10. “My wife and I had just gotten married. Me being a classical music fan, I wanted to go see a performance (of) the 1812 Overture. We arrived late and, unknowingly, sat right next to some huge cannons. (They) went off about 10 times. We must have jumped 25 feet and hit the ground like the world was coming to an end.”

        — Charles Woodward, 33, Reading

        11. “Erich was there for most of my “firsts”: My first chance to conduct a full orchestra; my first horn solo; my first “used car” (Erich took me to get a Mercedes; I wound up with an Avanti); my first meal in a Chinese restaurant (Erich ordered); my first job with an orchestra (the CSO). I'm looking forward to his next 35 years. It will never be boring.”

        — Carmon DeLeone, music director, Cincinnati Ballet and Middletown Symphony

12. At Ravinia in July, “Erich commented about our suits. We wear these navy blue collarless, very expensive Savile Row suits, and he said, "You look like you're going to a funeral!' I have to admit we looked a bit staid. We decided as one to show him the linings, which are all different colored silk.” — Philip Lawson, baritone, the King's Singers

        13. “We were on the CSO world tour in August 1966, somewhere in the mountains of Yugoslavia, at the Dubrovnik Festival. Max Rudolf (CSO music director) became seriously ill, and it fell upon Erich to take over. He was very calm, cool and collected. He always showed that side of him, that he could get through anything.”

        — Patricia Corbett, arts patron

        14. “More than anybody else, he jump-started my recording career with his Viennese album.”

        — Robert McDuffie, 42, violinist, New York

15. “I was about 9 years old, and my parents took me to see a Pops concert at Tri-County. I thought all classical music was boring. The encore was "The Stripper.' I just remember Mr. Kunzel conducting the piece with great energy, gyrating on the podium along with the music. It suddenly struck me that he was having FUN up there.”

        — Alfred Sugawara, Finneytown

16. “His very first ever pops concert was on the world tour in 1966. We were in Okinawa, playing for the servicemen and their families. We did the national anthem, which to this day is the most hair-raising rendition I've ever played. For an encore, we played “Hello Dolly.”

        “I remember the cheers when we walked onstage. It was packed, with people sitting on the floor. That must be what the New York Yankees feel like when they go into the World Series — it was that kind of ovation. Words don't suffice.”

        — Marie Speziale, retired CSO trumpet player

        17. “I walked in and said, I'm here to volunteer to help Erich Kunzel. I'd say, do you need some chickens, pigs, calves? And he'd say, can you get them? So I got two calves, and we set them in the foyer with 50 bales of hay, pigs and chickens. People loved it — the more confusion the better.”

        — Sally Wesselman, 66, Isis, who donated animals for “Down on the Farm” concerts, president of the Erich Kunzel International Fan Club

        18. “When we recorded Chiller in 1988, we played an elaborate prank on Erich. I came dressed as Zorro. He saw me in that guise before he went onstage. Then I switched quickly into a Darth Vader outfit, including a helmet that shifted my voice to a James Earl Jones voice. I came out and proceeded to do battle with him when he was performing music from Star Wars. He was totally caught offguard; he didn't know it was me. I honestly believe he was scared. You never know what kooks can come out of nowhere!”

        — Bob Woods, president, Telarc Records

        19. “I have sung on two of (Mr. Kunzel's) CDs, and performed on two PBS specials. The Halloween specials were my favorite. I asked Mr. Kunzel if I could have my picture taken with him. . . . What a way to end my senior year.” — Lauren Ashley Stacey, 17, Oakley, SCPA student

20. “I don't live in Cincinnati anymore, but I play my Kunzel CDs all the time. Nothing could be finer.”

        — Joan Feldman, Sarasota, Fla.

21. “Nothing can describe the feeling that permeated through the cloggers' families when Maestro Kunzel gave these youngsters the biggest thrill of a lifetime — an invitation to dance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.”

        — Shari Poff, director, Studio Cloggers

        22. “In September 1998, Mr. Kunzel was the guest of honor at a "Party of Note,' . . . Monty the python was a pet of hosts Judy and Mike Kitchen. In minutes, Monty had slithered to the shoulders of (Mr. Kunzel), and it remained somewhat uncertain who was charming whom.”

        — Sue Doan, Delhi Township

        23. “The Pops did the"William Tell Overture' (in Eden Park). Mr. Kunzel explained they were doing it without the Lone Ranger and Tonto. When they got to the part that sounds like the (Lone Ranger) theme, someone in the audience let out a loud "Yahoo.' Mr. Kunzel got such a kick out of this, it was as if he was going to fall to his knees.”

        — James Graves, Villa Hills

        24. “The Pops was doing a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats at Riverbend.Our cheetah ambassador, Kenya, sitting on the stage, suddenly became attracted by Erich's conducting, by what seemed to him violent gestures. Kenya stared and then gave a full-blown hiss at Erich. Without missing a note, Erich turned and directed the same toothy hiss at Kenya.”

        — Cathryn Hilker, Cat Ambassador Program, Cincinnati Zoo

        25. “In the '60s, Mr. Kunzel and I produced several "Symphony of Fashion' evenings, sponsored by Shillito's (now Lazarus). Without Mr. Kunzel, who conducted the orchestra, this would have been just another show. Erich was so creative and helpful, that we have always remembered him with great respect and admiration.”

        — Betty Wood, fashion merchandise director, Shillito's, 1952-82

        26. “Mr. Kunzel announced he would assemble a small singing group to perform with the Pops. I appeared at Music Hall for a tryout. The pianist didn't know (my piece). Erich graciously accompanied me through the song — from memory.”

        — Ted Gardner, Hyde Park

        27. “Erich Kunzel's musical presentation was unforgettable for us on July 30, 1981. Two weeks before my due date, my husband and I attended a concert-in-the-park. The exuberant energy of the maestro's music had us on our feet many times. That night, after the concert, I went into labor. Our son was born the next morning. Naturally, we had to name him Eric.”

        — Cindy, Phil and Eric Boller, Delhi Township

        28. At a concert with the Southern Gateway Chorus in 1992, Mr. Kunzel greeted the chorus at rehearsal with “It's good to see you all sober!”

        — Tom Emmert, 58, baritone, Springdale

29. “At a Pops concert at Sawyer Point in September 1987, Mr. Kunzel invited little ones to dance onstage; the audience voted for best dancer. My grandson Joshua, 3 1/2, won. Erich picked him up and let Joshua lead the orchestra with his baton.”

        — Mary M. Beard, Price Hill

        30. “In January 1970, Erich Kunzel opened the first CSO Area Artist Series in Lebanon with an exciting concert. We will never forget the thrill of seeing the people in our sold-out auditorium leap to their feet and applaud wildly.”

        — Bob and Anne Olson, Lebanon

        31. “We were attending an outdoor concert at Seasongood Pavilion in Eden Park. . . . Mr. Kunzel raised his baton, the orchestra began Beethoven's Fifth Symphony — and rain began to bucket down. Erich came to the microphone and said, "Talk about coming in on cue!' Musicians and audience had to run for cover.”

        — Mary Jo Sage, Anderson Township

        32. “I have a framed check from Sept. 17, 1970, after I played French horn with (pianist) Van Cliburn, Erich Kunzel and the Pops at Reds Stadium. They needed extra horns. . . . Talk about fun!”

        — Dorothy Kemp, conductor, Queen City Concert Band

33. “To honor Erich Kunzel's 30th anniversary in 1996 . . . we contacted the Cincinnati Zoo regarding two baby white tigers then just born, and requested the opportunity for Erich to name them. . . . He named them POPsie and Ericka.”

        — David F. Westerbeck, executive vice president, Union Central Life, Forest Park, which hosts the Pops' “Concert on the Green.”

        34. At a Young People's Concert “a member of the audience threw something and hit Mr. Kunzel. He stopped the concert and spoke to us about manners and respect. How to act in public at a theatrical event has stayed with me for 30 years.”

        — Melinda Lampke, 42, Covington

        35. “We were at the movie The Perfect Storm on July 5 in a near-empty theater. We thought most people were home recuperating from the July 4 Riverbend bash the previous night. As the previews began, I heard this voice that I would recognize anywhere in the world. I said to my husband, we have Erich Kunzel, the maestro himself, in our midst. En route home, we reminisced about our Kunzel years. There were many favorites: Ella Fitzgerald; Steve Lawrence and Edyie Gorme; Lena Horneand Mel Torme's Christmas special. From Peter Duchin to Dave Brubeck, he has entertained us royally with the "creme de la creme.' ”

        — Maggie Haas, Lakeside Park

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